It is utter nonsense to talk
about God loving all men. Sometimes men who are fearful of denying God’s total
sovereignty and equally fearful of teaching it try to soft peddle the issue by
assuring people that there is a sense in which God loves all men with a love of
benevolence, though not with a love of complacency and delight. Referring to
Psalm 145:8-9, they say, “God loves all men as his creatures,” just as he loves
trees and toads. If men can get any comfort from the idea that God loves them
like he “loves”a frog, maybe that
should not be taken away from them; but that simply is not the teaching of
Scripture. Psalm 145 is a psalm about the mercy of God, not the love of God.
Mercy is anything other than hell. Love is something far better.

God loves his elect distinctively. He
does not love all men. I would not emphasize this issue, were it not for the
fact that those who teach that God’s love is universal are guilty of three
horrible crimes: (1.) They make the love of God changeable. (2.) They make the
love of God meaningless. And (3.) they destroy the greatest motive there is for
godliness and devotion (II Cor. 5:14). Try telling you wife that you love all
women alike. See if that inspires her devotion to you!

The
Word of God tells us in the plainest terms possible that God’s love for his
elect is a special, sovereign, distinctive, and distinguishing love (Isa.
43:1-5; Rom. 8:29; 9:11-24). The fact that God has sacrificed men and nations
for the salvation of his people throughout the ages, and that he continues to
do so, should convince any reasonable person of the distinctiveness of his love
for his elect.

God loves his people delightfully, too. I
mean by that that God delights, takes pleasure in, and is complacent with his
elect because of his love for them. God so loves us that he smiles on us
perpetually, even when he appears to be frowning upon us. It is high time that
all attempts to divide the love of God into categories, stages, and degrees be
laid aside. They do nothing to help men and only obscure the glory and grandeur
of our God. If God loves me, he delights in me. If he does not delight in me,
he does not love me. Again I say, try telling your wife, “Honey, I really do
love you. I wish you well. I want nothing but the very best for you, and am
willing to do anything I can for you; but you do not please me. You are
offensive to me. I do not enjoy your company. In fact, I really do not want to
look at you.” Nonsense!

Our
God loves us as he loves his darling Son. That means he is well-pleased with us
(Matt. 17:5). The Father and the Son are one; and the Son of God tells us that
his “delights” were with us from
eternity (Pro. 8:31). He could not have used a stronger word than this to
express his love for us. The word “delights”
expresses the most intimate, sweet, ravishing pleasure. Can you get hold of
this? Our God so delights in us that he says, “Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse: thou hast ravished
my heart with one of thine eyes” (Song 4:9).